Chapter 19
Why didn’t Xie Zhefeng simply use the Soul-Nurturing Tree Essence? Why did he insist on having the person who appeared to be the least cultivated handle it?
He was a lost soul who should have vanished a millennium ago. The original spirit of Su Xue’s body had mysteriously disappeared, leaving both body and soul shrouded in mysteries beyond explanation.
He dared not touch the Soul-Nurturing Tree Essence.
Xie Zhefeng shifted sideways and extended his hand toward him, holding the spiritual pouch containing the tree essence between them.
The “Cloud Sword Sect Leader” was approaching them.
Lowering his head slightly, Xie Zhefeng reined in his thoughts, then raised his hand to receive the pouch, gesturing as if to take out the essence.
Suddenly, as if recalling something, he paused and calmly said, “This item is far too precious. My cultivation is too low; if I hold it, I fear something might go wrong and I won’t be able to protect the essence. Fellow Daoist Xie, since this is from the Immortal Venerable—” he deliberately prolonged the last two words, casting a meaningful glance at Xie Zhefeng, “—I dare not meddle with it.”
Xie Zhefeng remained still.
The man looked at the pouch in An Wuxue’s hands, as if merely waiting for her to take it out.
Yun Zhou urged anxiously, “Fellow Daoist Xie, it’s normal that Su Xue is only at the Foundation Establishment stage and dares not use it. Why don’t you just use it?”
Jiang Qing stepped forward, “Let me try.”
Xie Zhefeng glanced coldly, “This item belongs to Luoyue Sect. Fellow Daoist Jiang has no ties to Luoyue Sect, so I cannot entrust it to you.”
Yun Zhou reached out, “Then let me! Surely I can do it!”
Xie Zhefeng raised his hand, the Chunhua Sword sheathed but positioned horizontally before Yun Zhou, blocking his attempt to take the tree essence.
It was clear: only An Wuxue must handle it personally.
But she absolutely could not take it.
An Wuxue froze beside them.
Not even that night when Xie Zhefeng nearly killed him again on the Frost Sea did he feel such dread.
He was not afraid of the world’s view of the Cold Sword Venerable; he feared the image of his junior brother from the past life.
Just the thought that Xie Zhefeng might see his pitiful state through the tree essence, that he would know he was the brother who deserved death, and that he would have to face Xie Zhefeng as “An Wuxue” again—
The past surged through him like a violent storm, draining the color from his face.
He steadied himself and whispered, “Since Jiang Qing and Yun Zhou are not disciples of Luoyue Sect, I naturally am not either. Fellow Daoist Xie, why don’t you take it yourself?”
“I am not at liberty to use it.”
Not at liberty?
Only someone who had died once would be afraid to touch the Soul-Nurturing Tree Essence. What inconvenience could Xie Zhefeng have?
He was the one most unfit to use it.
Whatever Xie Zhefeng’s plan was, it inadvertently blocked his path.
If he took it, he would be exposed; if he didn’t, he was cowardly and also exposed.
The “Cloud Sword Sect Leader” had arrived before them.
From afar, he seemed ordinary, but up close, his expression was stiff and his eyes lifeless.
A faint cloud of turbid qi hovered above his brow—most likely a demon.
An Wuxue was nearest to this demon, still clutching the open spiritual pouch but not moving.
The “Cloud Sword Sect Leader” glanced at him blandly and asked, “Who here is the envoy from Beiming?”
They exchanged looks. Jiang Qing smiled, “Sect Leader Yun, it’s me.”
“What urgent matter brings the envoy?”
“May we enter for a talk?”
“If it’s urgent, why not say it here briefly?” The implication was clear—they would not be allowed inside.
Their plan to sneak into the sect without disturbing the demons inside was likely doomed.
Jiang Qing’s brow twitched as he glanced at Xie Zhefeng, seemingly awaiting his decision.
Before Xie Zhefeng could speak, Yun Zhou’s voice broke with sadness, “Sect Leader, do you still remember me and my senior brother? And Su Xue—you were the one who found Su Xue and had us bring him to Luoyue Sect…”
The “Cloud Sword Sect Leader” paused, then stared at Yun Zhou.
Suddenly—
The demon, realizing it could no longer maintain its disguise, exuded a surge of foul qi, its eyes glowing red with black shadows, and lunged directly at the nearest—An Wuxue!
An Wuxue feigned ignorance, remaining motionless.
Yun Zhou cried out, “Su Xue!!!”
Xie Zhefeng’s expression shifted. He brought his fingers together and swiftly cast a spirit-control technique, effortlessly pulling An Wuxue to the side out of the demon’s reach.
The spiritual pouch shook violently, the Soul-Nurturing Tree Essence nearly pulled loose by the spiritual fluctuations. An Wuxue quickly grabbed the pouch and fell sideways with the momentum.
In a flash, Yun Yao stepped back, seemingly to shield An Wuxue, while Jiang Qing and Yun Zhou moved simultaneously.
Sand and stones flew, dark clouds billowed, and the light dimmed and overturned.
The sect gate, once pristine, was now in ruins.
What was once a peaceful land was suddenly transformed, the heavens and earth overturned.
Jiang Qing pointed his sword directly at the demon’s forehead—where, whether immortal cultivator or demon, the mind sea and spirit sea converge.
The demon retreated a step to avoid the strike, wind howling around it.
In the next moment—
Jiang Qing and the demon vanished right before their eyes!
All of this happened in the blink of an eye, while An Wuxue continued to fall sideways.
In that sudden moment, he grasped the situation.
The demon intended to drag them separately into an illusory realm to defeat them one by one!
Xie Zhefeng stood calmly to the side, concentrating spiritual power at his fingertips, about to strike.
An Wuxue tightened his grip on the pouch.
If Xie Zhefeng intervened and swiftly resolved the matter, he would still have to take out the Soul-Nurturing Tree Essence in front of everyone...
He glanced toward the spot where Jiang Qing disappeared.
If he could temporarily separate from Xie Zhefeng...
It was worth the risk.
He hurriedly clutched the pouch’s opening, feigning being pushed aside and losing balance, then without hesitation collapsed toward the entrance of the illusion!
The fierce wind roared in his ears. Within the illusion, at the boundary where turbid and pure qi mingled, a powerful suction force suddenly pulled An Wuxue inside!
Yun Zhou’s shouts reached his ears, growing more distant—
“Su Xue!!!”
“—Fellow Daoist Xie! Why did you go in too...”
“What about me...”
He no longer heard the rest.
His vision spun.
The surroundings suddenly fell silent.
Dragged by the illusory force, he tumbled forward.
All around was dim and bleak.
Turbid qi spread in the air, pure qi rarefied. He seemed to have been thrown onto the midway of a mountain peak, the grass and trees around stained with a deathly aura.
A harsh impact.
He collided with a rock ahead.
He groaned, hastily looking beside him.
This was a remote little mountain, everywhere marked by the erosion of turbid qi.
No one was here.
Was this the true state of the Cloud Sword Sect after its annihilation?
Jiang Qing was gone, Xie Zhefeng gone, Yun Zhou and Yun Yao nowhere in sight.
They had entered the sect separately and were now scattered.
Here, at this moment, he was alone!
His body ached from the collision as if his organs had shifted; many places were scraped and bleeding, painful, yet he sighed with relief.
Fortunately.
His gamble had paid off.
Slowly sitting up, he looked down at the pouch in his hand.
He had seized the moment during Jiang Qing’s battle with the demon to be absorbed into the illusion before Xie Zhefeng and the others, risking everything to take the Soul-Nurturing Tree Essence into his own hands for a while.
Though the Soul-Nurturing Tree Essence would reveal the life and death of the departed, it could only be used once per person, regardless of life or death.
Xie Zhefeng would arrive soon.
If he touched it once before Xie Zhefeng came, subsequent touches would elicit no reaction.
Ignoring his injuries and without using any external medicinal herbs, he hastily opened the pouch.
A soothing aura for the soul once again emanated from within.
He took out the item.
It was a tiny branch, no larger than an adult’s palm.
The branch bore no leaves but shimmered with a faint golden light.
The moment An Wuxue grasped it, the golden light flickered and flared brilliantly!
A flood of memories suddenly poured into his soul.
The Soul-Nurturing Tree Essence took effect, projecting the life and death of the departed!
Whose were they? His or Su Xue’s?
In an instant, his consciousness was pulled into those memories.
He saw Thorn River.
...They were his memories of life and death.
He saw himself stumbling through thorns, clutching the hilt of the Chunhua Sword, stabbing the blade into the thorns to support his body.
He saw countless familiar, unfamiliar, and once-encountered cultivators.
And Qi Xun.
Qi Xun’s eyes reddened, his folding fan transformed into a long sword, the blade pointed at him.
He was already exhausted then.
Turbid qi had corroded every meridian; his divinely bestowed golden body and jade bones shattered; his entire body ached.
Yet, somehow, he struggled and broke through the encirclement. When he returned to the Luoyue Sect gate, he was drenched in blood, unable to tell where it flowed from or which wound hurt most.
In the frost and snow, Xie Zhefeng stood atop the long steps behind the sect gate.
“Junior Brother.”
“I’m in so much pain.”
He said.
His junior brother gave him only one sentence:
“This—senior brother—has—what—is—deserved.”
An Wuxue’s vision went black.
The memories stopped there.
That was his last memory before death.
Moments later, the darkness faded, and he still saw the Luoyue Sect gate.
...It was his afterlife.
One he had never seen before.
He saw himself closing his eyes before the gate, never to open them again; Xie Zhefeng’s whereabouts unknown.
He lay on the frost, his body beginning to dissipate.
His divinely granted golden body and jade bones shattered in life; without life’s support after death, his bones vanished quickly, leaving only a patch of icy cold.
His soul dispersed too, until only a single wisp remained.
That wisp drifted through the air, carried by the wind for an unknown time, gradually returning to Thorn River.
Thorn River was overgrown with thorns, its spiritual energy sparse; no mortals lived there, nor was there any sect established.
A desolate place, where his soul quietly settled.
By then, An Wuxue had long since lost all awareness.
He thought this was the entirety of his afterlife.
But the images the Soul-Nurturing Tree Essence revealed did not end.
He saw Xie Zhefeng.
His junior brother, without any spiritual protection, pale-faced, staggering through the thorns toward him.